Beer, a history lesson, and a fairy tale castle!

Picture perfect Bavaria

As if our spring wasn't already busy enough with traveling when some friends of ours asked us if we wanted to join on a last minute trip to Munich for the weekend we couldn't resist. And since we were headed to Bavaria we decided to tag on an extra day to visit the famous King's Castles of the region.

In order to most effectively get to all the sights we decided to rent a car and drive to Munich as it is only a little over a three hour drive. Not to mention Steve wanted his chance to drive on the Autobahn as well!

We arrived late on Friday evening as traffic was not very good, but we did not have any plans other than to watch our friends' son, who is a few months older than Emma, so they could go out and enjoy an evening sans baby. That is certainly one of the benefits of traveling with friends who also have children, as we traded off and Steve and I also got an evening to ourselves on Saturday night. As much fun as we have traveling with Emma I don't think anyone will not say that they don't enjoy an opportunity to get out on their own every once in awhile as well.

So after getting settled on Friday night and a bit of a lazy start on Saturday morning we had a relatively busy agenda to see some of the historical sights of Munich before finding our way to the famous beer halls and gardens that Munich is best known for. We were lucky to have our own personal tour guides as our friends had been to Munich several times before and were happy to show us the sites. We enjoyed getting a taste of the city's architecture and seeing where key events occurred in World War II.

The Rathaus-Glockenspiel at Marienplatz

Sight of some famous World War II gatherings

By lunch time we found our way to the grounds of Springfest. Springfest is a more low key version of the much more famous Oktoberfest, but still gave us a sampling of what Oktoberfest is like. Of course all of us (as in all the adults) had to have an oversize beer along with some traditional German food (roasted chicken, brats, pretzels, etc). From there we continued to enjoy the beautiful spring afternoon outdoors in the Englischer Garten and then onto perhaps the most famous of all, the Hofbrauhaus. By that time it was already getting close to bedtime for two members of our party so we headed back to the hotel. Yet, lucky for us once Emma was in bed we got to head back out to check out one other famous beer hall, Augustiner. To say the least by the end of the night we were quite content with our whirlwind tour of Munich and its beer (especially for me since I'm not one for beer really!).

Looking the part in Dirndl & Leiderhosen at Springfest

Testing the pretzel

A tent at Springfest

Of course the downside of being able to go out after Emma's bedtime is that morning really comes too early as someone doesn't yet know how to hit snooze on her alarm clock. Yet, with Emma's help we got going and enjoyed a little more meandering around Munich and revisiting the Hofbrauhaus so we could have a better look around while it wasn't quite so busy at 10:30 in the morning! Although we are surrounded by important historical sites everywhere in Europe, I think visiting a place like Munich is even more impactful because of it's role in World War II and knowing how much it impacted our parents and grandparents generation.

Moms and babies at the Hofbrauhaus

Hard-working dads with stroller, diaper bags, and beer in hand!

Sight of some famous speeches and gatherings at the Hofbrauhaus

Going our separate ways, our friends stayed back in Munich city center to enjoy a bit more of the day while we headed out to the suburb of Dachau to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. We lucked out with a wonderful tour guide that really gave us an in depth look at what went on at that particular camp and helped us to remember a little of our European history classes from back in high school. Dachau was not an extermination camp, but rather a labor camp and is most well known for being the model for which most all other concentration camps were built. It was in fact such a model camp that at one point in time the Nazis were so bold as to even bring in representatives from the Red Cross and other such organizations and show them how "good" the conditions were for these prisoners. In reality they only introduced them to the Catholic Priest prisoners who were kept in the best physical condition of all and even hosted them with festival type camaraderie when they came to see the camp.

Entrance gate with quote "Work makes you free"

Inside the concentration camp

View of some of the sleeping barracks in the camp

While it was a bit difficult to bring to life the horror that existed at the camp while we visited on a beautiful 60 degree day, we still managed to get a feeling. From learning that some 200,000 people were prisoners of the camp and 40,000 of them died. It was frightening to think that this was an extremely low death rate for a labor camp. We learned and saw the differences of treatment that various "types" of prisoners received (homosexual vs Catholic priests vs Eastern European). Jewish people were not sent to Dachau as they were sent straight to extermination camps. Perhaps one of the most chilling details I learned during our tour was in regards to what these prisoners did for their "labor." I guess I had never really thought what they did on a daily basis, but it was disheartening to find out that they were sent into the town of Dachau to work in many of the factories and there they worked directly alongside non-prisoners. Yet, somehow the townspeople continued to go on with their daily lives believing the propaganda and ignoring what they were seeing with their own eyes as these very sick, malnourished and abused people worked right alongside of them.

Row after row of where barracks once stood

Barbed wire perimeter

Sculpture meant to depict prisoners who chose to commit suicide by running and jumping into the barbed wire when they were being forced to stand still for hours on end during role call often for no specific reason.

Stories such as those I will surely not forget and I hope our world never has to witness such horror again. I was glad to hear that it is mandatory for all German students to visit concentration camps during their schooling years. It made me think about how learning about such events in our world's history out of books can make a small impact, but I only wish that all people have an opportunity to visit sights like this and see and feel it for themselves.

Feeling thankful to be able to visit such a place we were equally happy to be on our way to our next destination, which would not be nearly as heavy of subject matter. So we made the 1.5 hour drive into southwest Bavaria which is famous for two large castles (the King's Castles), most recognizable being the Neuschwanstein Castle, which is the castle that Walt Disney used as his model to build Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Arriving in the small town of Fussen in the early evening we decided to get a sneak peak at the castles while the weather was still beautiful as we didn't know what to expect the next day. Neuschwanstein Castle sits at the top of a large hill, of which during normal visiting hours, you have the choice to walk, take a bus, or horse drawn carriage to the top. Of course since these weren't running and we had a ticket to visit the inside of the castles in the morning we said we weren't going to hike all the way to the top, but just a little ways to get a few views. Yet somehow 40 minutes later we found ourselves not just at the castle, but having hiked even a little further up. The views were addicting, especially as the night was quiet with just a few other people meandering about the area. To say the Neuschwanstein Castle is impressive is an understatement.

Neuschwanstein castle from the Marienbrucke

Smiles over Bavaria!

Views from the Neuschwanstein castle

Dad and daughter admiring the castle

Marienbrucke... I was a little nervous to walk across it, but the views were worth it!

Happy with squeezing in an outdoor self tour in nice weather we got ready for our tour of the interior of the Neuschwanstein  and Hohenschwangau castles the following morning. It was not only interesting to see the inside of the castles but also learn a little about the different conditions the castles were built under, especially the fact King Ludwig II died mysteriously during the building of Neuschwanstein and much of the interior of the castle was never finished. However, in the areas that were finished there were certainly no details left to spare.

The Hohenschwagau Castle built by King Maximillian II

Taking a snooze break

More views of the Hohenschwagau castle

Walking, walking...

Enjoying one last nice Bavarian meal we headed back to Zurich on Monday afternoon feeling that we had quite a diverse weekend trip. I can only hope that 5, 10, or 20 years down the road we still remember quite a bit about trips like this one. And while we know Emma won't remember it, hopefully she will see photos and be more intrigued to learn about all the places her parents hauled her around to growing up!

Picture perfect